TruthTeller Toto
by Tinge
Summary: The story of Gone, told through the eyes of Toto. :D One-shot for now, if you guys like it i'll probably write more. :D
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone :D Toto is one of my favorite characters from the series, and theres no fics about him yet on this site, so... this is a fic about the events of Gone, through the eyes of Toto. :D I do not own Gone or any of it's characters. **

"Mom! Someone's at the door!" Toto called out, peering through the small peekhole at a few tall men dressed in camouflage colored military outfits. His mom walked down the small set of carpeted stairs, an oddly grim expression on her face.

"Its some military guys... what are they doing here?" Toto asked.

"Its nothing Toto... they're just here to ask you some questions." His mom replied.

Then, a little voice in Toto's said rang out...

_That is a lie._

Toto looked around, confused and trying once again to find the voice that rang out in his head occasionally when someone spoke to him.

Noticing him looking around, his mother's expression grew even darker. She opened the door, allowing the three men to step into the house. Toto assumed that they were here for his mother, and began walking up the steps to his room.

"Wait," one of the three men called out to him. Toto spun around, now worried about just what it was these men wanted. His mom had said it was just a few questions... the voice had said otherwise. Surely, his mom wouldn't lie to him...

"Oh, sorry, i thought you were here for my mom," Toto said, bounding quickly down the stairs.

"No... we wish to speak with you. Mind coming with us for a while?"

Toto looked to his mother for guidance. All his mother did was give a slight nod.

"Well... alright..." Toto said, very uneasy about this situation. Toto was a smart kid, always made straight A's, never got involved in anything criminal... what is it that they wanted with him? Without giving him the opportunity to ask any more questions, the men 'escorted' Toto outside and into a black van. With no windows. Okay, now he was freaking out.

Toto and the three men drove in relative silence for almost an hour, before Toto asked, "Hey, is there a radio in this thing?"

The man sitting next to him replied, "No. It's only a couple more hours, just sit tight." Toto groaned. A full two more hours... Toto had only left Perdido Beach once before, so this trip seemed to drone on and on forever.

A couple hours later, they reached a gate which reached high into the air, the top laced with razor wire, with only a small opening for them to pass through. They began to drive through the opening when Toto noticed a sign which read, 'WARNING: Restricted Area. You are subject to search.'

Okay, this was getting weird. The truck passed through the opening, and stopped next to an identification station of some kind. The military officer who was driving handed the ID checker some sort of card, and then they were allowed to pass through. As they passed through the area, Toto looked towards the ground, where he saw several rows of underground bunkers. He was curious as to what was inside them, but its not as though he could just hop out to check.

They drove a little bit further, then turned sharply left, and started driving through what seemed like a very barren land. There were deep trenches all around, and plenty of small, dead trees dotting the desert landscape. Eventually, a small tan-colored building came into view across the desert terrain, with a few small windows with blinds closed tightly, and numerous air conditioning vents protruding from the outer walls of the building.

"You're going to be staying here for a while Toto. Your mother has some business to attend to, and needs us to watch over you for a while. This is just a place for you to live while waiting for her."

_That is a lie._

Something was very, very wrong... The military man spoke up again, "There are other kids here too, maybe you can spend some time with them. Toto closed his eyes and tried to get the voice in his head to speak again.

_That is true._

Good.. he could call upon it now. That could be useful in the future. Even though he now thought he might be insane, the voice had been correct so far. So why not use it?

"That's a lie. Just what is this place?" Toto asked bluntly. The military man glared at him. "Don't ask too many questions kid."

Okay. So he was in a military facility, being led into a small, remote building in the middle of a desert by armed military officers, with no explanation and a voice in his head telling him nearly everything he was being told about this facility was a lie. Yup, somethin' was up. But what could it be..? Toto had never done anything wrong. Had he?

The strange men led him through a grey door on the surface of the building, leading into a room where numerous armed military officers sat at heavy metal desks, working on various projects on their computers and taking very little note of Toto's presence. There was a hallway to his right, which branched off into numerous other rooms. One of the soldiers was eating a sandwich, made up of nothing but plain white bread and a light Nutella spread.

"Come with me," A new man dressed in a suit instead of the military outfits worn by the others said to Toto, skipping the formalities entirely. He was obviously someone important. Toto went with him obendiently, and was led to a small room down the hallway, with a desk in the middle, a chair on either side, and a mirror on one side of the room. Toto couldn't help but notice that there was a camera in the corner of the room.

"Alright Toto..." The man said, taking a seat, and indicating to Toto to do the same, "My name is Johnathan Rhine."

_That is a lie._

This guy had just lied about his own name? What in the world was going on here? "Thats not your real name."

The man smiled. "You're absolutely right. Thank you for confirming that you do, in fact, have the power to distinguish lies from the truth."

Crap.

"My real name is Anthony Rhine."

_That is true._

"Alright... well mine's Toto, as i'm sure you already know. So... why am i here?"

"You aren't the one asking questions here, Toto. But... I'll answer anyways. This is a research facility. Many kids in the Perdido Beach area, and the surrounding areas, have begun to develop some sort of special power. We've only noticed a few of them at this point. You are one of them, so you are one of the kids chosen to participate in this... study. Your mother agreed to this because she was scared of you. Your power."

_That is true._

Wow... so the voice in his head... was some supernatural power? Not just him going insane? And his mother had betrayed him because of that? This was almost too much to take in...

Apparently noticing the mix of worry and contemplation on Toto's face, Rhine reached over and put a hand on his shoulder. "Toto, no harm will come to you here. You will be fed, you will have time to sleep, and there really are other kids here, so you won't be lonely. We will provide you with entertainment. All we ask for in return, is that when we ask to talk to you, you cooperate with us. Is that a deal?" Rhine held out his right hand.

Toto focused his mind to call upon the voice once again. _That is true._

Toto smiled a bit, relieved that what the man was saying was true, and shook Rhine's hand. "Alright.. I guess i'll play along."

Afterwards, Rhine led Toto out of the dark room and into a room a few doors down. The room was rather small, and had a shelf filled with books on one wall. There was a TV and a DVD player on the other side, with a case filled to the rim with DVDs. The room was filled with many mannequins and figures of famous superheros. Toto's favorite was the large mannequin head in the shape of a giant spider-man head. In the corner there was a cute girl with black hair cut off at her shoulders, reading one of the many books from the shelf. Seeing Toto enter, she smiled and stood up, making her way over to him.

"Welcome to Project Cassandra," She said, spinning around with her hands raised to indicate the whole building around them before coming to a standstill and smiling, only a few feet from Toto now, "I'm Darla."

**I love Toto. xD Review please!**


	2. Chapter 2

Darla was a cute girl who looked about thirteen, with black hair which hung down to just above her shoulders. She was a couple inches shorter than Toto, with pale skin and big blue eyes. She wore a pink "Hello Kitty" tee shirt and jeans, with pink and white sneakers. She seemed so friendly and lively to Toto, despite being trapped in some sort of facility.

"Oh, hey." Toto said lamely, looking around at the room around them. "I'm Toto."

Interrupting their little conversation, Rhine chimed in, "Oh, Toto, your case number is 1-01, One-Zero-One, so if anyone calls you by that, know they're talking to you. And Darla over there is 1-02, One-Zero-Two."

"Um.. okay," Toto said, not sure if he liked his little 'nickname'. By the look on Darla's face at the mention of her's, she didn't like it either.

Satisfied enough, Rhine left the room in peace. Curious, Toto asked Darla, "You mentioned Project Cassandra.. what is that?"

"Well, you're pretty straightforward," Darla replied. "It's a program these people are hosting. Apparently, some kids in the Perdido Beach area started getting weird powers. They brought some of us with the powers in for research. I can walk through solid objects." She beamed proudly at the mention of her own power. "Whats your power?"

Power? He hadn't known he'd had one. He could control the voice in his head now... was that a power? "Well... i don't really know. Sometimes i hear this voice in my head when someone talks to me... it tells me if what they're saying is the truth or a lie. I just recently learned how to use it on command."

"Ooh, so you're like a human lie detector! Thats cool," She said, sounding extremely excited about Toto's power. "So... Toto can tell lies... tell truths..." She looked like something had just clicked in her head. "Toto the Truth teller!" She thought for a moment, "Truth-Teller Toto."

She beamed happily at the new nickname she'd given him. Toto couldn't help but laugh a little at how she turned a situation this bad into a joke. She was the type of person Toto would like to be around.

"Truth-Teller Toto huh? I like it," Toto said, taking a seat in a red beanbag chair situated next to a few more chairs of various colors in the corner of the room. Darla flopped down into the chair right next to him. "So how long have you been here anyways?"

Darla thought about it for a moment. "A couple weeks i think. Its okay here, they give us food, water, DVDs and books..." Her smile faded for a moment, "Still kinda feel like they treat me like some sorta freak experiment, always asking me questions and making me show off my powers in front of that glass panel. They act like i dont know theres people back there." She shook her head. Then, the seriousness wore off and she became her usual happy self again. "But oh well, it's still nice here. Especially now that i've got some company!" She smiled cheerfully at Toto.

"They told me there were plenty of kids here to interact with?"

She laughed a little. "For you, yeah. They normally pair the kids up in rooms, to save space, but there was an odd number so i got stuck alone for the past two weeks. I never really got to interact with anyone except Rhine and his moron military friends 'till now. Well, i get to visit with a couple kids down the hall for like a couple hours a day, but thats it."

"Wow, must've been harsh."

"You have _no_ idea," She rolled her eyes playfully, then hopped up and bounded over to the DVD rack. "Wanna watch a movie? Helps pass the time, and we've got almost anything you can imagine."

"Sure," Toto agreed, then they sat down on the beanbag chairs and talked about anything and everything for the next two hours while watching the first transformers movie on the large TV in the small room.

A few minutes into the movie, Toto looked over to Darla and asked, "Darla... do you know whats causing us to have these powers? Or why they need to do this?"

She seemed to think that over for a moment, then, "Well.. i've got no idea what caused it. But it only seems to happen around Perdido Beach, and Coates.. it might have something to do with the land around there. And its just human nature i guess. They don't understand it, so they want to. Its... curiousity, and fear oof the unknown, at the same time."

Toto couldn't help but notice how much more serious/intelligent she had sounded just then. Its like she had two different personalities.

"Guess that makes sense. Just sucks that i got dragged into it."

"Yup, but its alright. Not like they're gonna do anything to us."

_That is.. she doesn't know if it is a lie or a truth._

"You aren't sure about that," Toto said as more of a statement than a question.

Darla's less-than-serious expression returned, "Guess i cant hide anything from you, huh, Truth-teller Toto?" She gave him a little wink, and then went back to watching the movie, evidently trying to avoid the topic.

Before now, The voice had only given Toto truth and lies. Now its giving him things like 'unsure'? Was his power growing?

She confused Toto, but he decided not to push the issue any further. He wasn't really sure whether he liked Darla's nickname for him or not either. His life would still be normal if he wasn't a 'Truth-Teller'.

When the movie was over a couple hours later, Darla turned to Toto and said, "Hey, you wanna go meet the other kids? They're a lot older than us, like 17 i think, but they're pretty nice most of the time."

"Yeah, sure," Toto said, following Darla to the door. He was kinda surprised they would actually let him and Darla leave the room. Apparently noticing the surprise on his face, Darla said, "They don't let us out of this hallway, but we can go pretty much freely through it. All the kid's rooms are on this hall."

"Oh, alright."

Toto and Darla walked down two doors and turned left, to yet another grey steel door. Darla opened it and walked in, not bothering to knock. "Luke! Darren! Theres a new kid here," Darla called out loudly. Toto was a bit cautious about being the 'new kid' again. He had moved into Perdido Beach just last year, and Orc has always pushed him around for being the 'new kid'.

In the corner of the room was a red-headed boy with light green eyes, watching 'The Incredibles' on the large TV provided to him and his roommate by the facility and doodling absentmindedly on a small red notepad. On the other side of the room was a boy with light blonde hair and icy blue eyes. The blonde boy turned his head towards Toto, and Toto almost felt like he was looking right through him. "Hey, I'm Luke, One-Zero-Three."

The other boy looked towards Toto, seeming a bit indifferent to the new kid in the facility. "I'm Darren, One-Zero-Four."

"Uh.. I'm Toto, One-Zero-One." He silently wondered why he had been given the lowest number here despite being the newest at the facility.

"Its because they assign the numbers based on the time they discovered your power, not the time you were picked up," Luke said, still looking towards Toto with his piercing blue eyes.

"Oh, thanks..." Toto said, wondering how he'd known what he was thinking.

"My power has two parts. One, i can see through inanimate objects. Two, I can read people's minds if i'm looking directly at them. Looking at them through walls with the first part of my power doesn't work." Luke said, turning away and back to the TV screen playing 'The Incredibles'.

Wow... guess there really were some amazing powers around the facility. Now understandably curious, Toto turned towards Darren. "Whats your power?"

"If i draw something, i can make it come to life. For example..." He finished a line on the notepad he was drawing on, then a small bird appeared sitting on one of the beanbag chairs in the room. Darren took the eraser of his pencil and erased a solid line through his drawing, and the bird vanished.

"Wow, thats incredible.." Toto said.

"Yeah, I guess. Whats your power anyways?" Darren said, sounding bored with the whole situation.

"A voice in my head tells me when someone's lying."

"Wow, thats amazing. Wish i had a power like that."

_That is a lie._

"Thats a lie," Toto stated matter-of-factly.

"Yep. Just testin' ya." Darren turned back to the movie and his notepad, not really interested anymore. Toto noticed that, for once, Darla had been all but silent for a while. He looked to his left, and a small section of the wall of the building was glowing a light-blue shade, Darla's face stuck halfway through the wall.

"Uh.. Darla.. you sure thats safe?" Toto asked.

Darla quickly pulled her head out of the wall. "Yeah, why wouldn't it be?"

"Er... nevermind."

Suddenly, the door opened, and all four kids looked over to see who had entered. Standing in the doorway was Rhine, his black suit as seamless as ever and his red hair slicked back.

"Hey, you two, get back to your own room. We're locking up for the night."

Toto obediently walked out the door and into the hallway, Darla practically skipping along behind him. Rhine looked annoyed by Darla's constant happiness, almost as much as he'd been when Toto stated he was lying yesterday. Upon reaching their room, Toto and Darla sat down in the same pink and blue beanbag chairs they'd occupied earlier today.

Before turning to leave, Rhine said to the pair, "Toto, your first questioning session will be in a few days, get used to the facility for now."

_That is true._

He continued, "And don't worry about life here. It'll take some getting used to, but no harm will come to you. We might even let you out once the research is done with."

_That is a lie._

Rhine turned and left, leaving Toto sitting there with a look of worry, already feeling a terrible disaster was on the way.

* * *

**Okay... not real good. We get to the good part next chapter. (I'm already writing it), so I'll try to update quick. Review! :D **


	3. Chapter 3

"Toto, we need to speak with you," Rhine said quickly after opening the door to the room he shared with Darla, "Then you next, Darla."

Toto looked to Darla, a bit worried, as this was the first time they'd actually called him in for a discussion. Darla gave him a reassuring glance, "Dont worry, Toto, it's easy. Just be honest with 'em and you'll be out in a few minutes."

Regaining his confidence after Darla's words, Toto stood quickly and walked towards Rhine, "Alright... lead the way."

Rhine gave him a false smile, meant to be reassuring but only putting Toto more on edge than before, and led him down the hallway. Coming to a stop by the door to the room where he'd been questioned before, Rhine opened the grey door and led Toto into the small grey room with the steel table and chairs. Toto once again noticed the camera, wondering just what it was for, as he took his seat.

"So how have you liked your last few days here Toto?" Rhine asked with a mock-compassionate tone.

"It's been alright... still adjusting, i guess." It was the truth. Toto couldn't complain, he had food and water, entertainment, company, honestly it was better than how he'd lived before. But still... the fact that he was, after all, trapped in a facility and being questioned like he was some sort of freak put a bit of a damper on that. He'd get used to it, he supposed.

"Well.. right now, we just want to test your little 'power', see how accurate it is. I'll make a few statements, you tell us if they're true or false. Understand?" Toto nodded.

This went on for a good twenty minutes, Toto answering random questions over and over again to confirm the accuracy of his powers. It ranged from things concerning political affairs and possible WMDs in Israel, things he didn't even understand, to what Rhine had for breakfast this morning. By the end, Toto was beyond bored of answering trivial questions and listening to the ever-naggy voice in his head.

"Alright... it seems we're done here," Rhine said. Toto let out a sigh of relief, much to Rhine's annoyance. "You did well Toto, we've confirmed your powers by this point. The tests will just be like this for quite a while."

_That is a lie._

"What are you hiding Rhine?" Toto raised his eyebrow. He could see Rhine fuming about how he'd slipped up and let Toto see through his lie.

"Don't worry about it. Go back to your room. And tell Darla we need her immediately."

Now Toto was worried. Darla had been here longer than him, and she didn't know that something was about to change in the procedures since she lacked his lie-detecting powers. If something was about to be altered for Toto, it could be any time now for Darla...

"Well? Are you going to go?" Rhine asked, not even bothering to hide his irritation.

"Oh, sorry, lost in thought." Toto said, before quickly exiting the room and heading to the room he shared with Darla.

"Hey, how'd it go?" Darla asked, jumping up from the book she was reading to greet Toto. "He wasn't too hard on ya was he?"

"No, it went well..." Toto hesitated, "Until the end. He slipped up and lied to me when he didn't mean to. He said that the tests would be this way for a long time, meaning to soothe me, obviously... the voice told me that was a lie. Somethings going to change in the treatment around here.. something he doesn't want us to know about. ou've been here longer Darla, if somethings changing for me, it could happen to you any time now."

Darla looked troubled. "I wonder what it could be... but i guess theres nothing i can do about it right now. Anyways, wish me luck!" Darla said, still as cheery as ever, and headed out the door before Toto could even respond.

Toto heaved a sigh and sat down on a blue beanbag chair in the corner. The one Darla had been sitting in when he had first come to the Project Cassandra building. He pulled out a DVD, the second Transformers movie, and popped it into the DVD player. He sat there and watched a good half of the movie, before Darla returned. It had taken a little longer than his session, so he was a bit worried.

He stood up and quickly made his way over to her. "Hey, Darla. Was anything different?"

"No, not yet. Same old same old." She looked unconcerned by the whole development. Toto watched as she flopped down into a pink beanbag chair situated next to his blue one. He sat down next to her again. "They just asked me to walk through some stuff, same as they've always done. They looked kinda bored with it now though, they said they pretty much know how my power works now. Guess things are gonna get kinda different soon, huh?"

"Yeah... though i don't really know what that means." He frowned.

"Oh calm down Toto, they won't do anything to hurt us. We're the valueable research experiments to them, right? And they need our cooperation. I'm sure its nothing."

"Guess so," He said, and the two sat in silence for a while, watching the movie.

After another hour or so of watching the movie, when the credits were rolling, Darla spoke up. "Even though i know they won't hurt us, i still really hate it here. I mean... not to sound spoiled or anything... its just that sometimes i miss how things were. Not like.. waiting to be called for questioning and watching kid's movies on old DVDs."

"Yeah... you're right. But theres no way we can get out, so i guess we've just gotta make the best of what we've been given."

"Yep... i've got no way to get out. So i'll make the best of it. Thanks, Toto."

_That is a lie._

A lie? She had a way to escape?

"You're welcome..." He decided not to push the issue. After finishing the third Transformers movie, the two of them decided to head off to bed.

* * *

Toto was sound asleep when he heard the commotion in the hallways. He could hear the armed military soldiers running towards their room, their combat boots slapping against the cold floor.

He jolted up quickly, spinning around and reaching his hand out to wake Darla. But she was already awake, and was hastily putting on her pink sneakers. He heard her curse under her breath. "Toto, I'm sorry, but I'm getting out of here. I want a normal life, not to be treated like some freak experiment."

"What are you talking about? You can't just leave and have a normal life! They can find you again."

Darla didn't respond. She just walked towards the wall of the room. Then, she pressed her hand to the wall, and said to Toto, "Thank you... Toto. If not for you I would probably end up the victim of some experiment tomorrow. If you have a way out Toto... get out, now."

Just then, four of the men dressed in military uniforms burst through the door, each sporting heavy machine guns. Toto didn't know how they'd realized Darla was trying to escape, but they had. And they were trying to stop it. Darle glowed an almost flourescent light blue color as she began to step through the door, passing through it at slightly lower than walking speed, as phasing through a solid object slowed her down quite a bit.

"Stop her!" One of the military soldiers shouted out, and began running towards where Darla was trying to pass through. Instinctively, Toto jumped off his bed and rammed the guard with his soldier, hard. The soldier fell back, winded, and Toto landed on top of him. The other guards pulled out tasers and pointed them towards Darla, who was now most of the way through the wall and about to break through. They fired, and Darla passed out unconscious halfway through the wall. Unable to keep her power activated while unconscious, Darla materialized halfway through the wall. She was dead, her body basically split in two.

The guard Toto had rammed cursed loudly, and pried Toto off of him. Toto was still in shock, staring at the wall where his friend stood. He couldn't move. Couldn't breath. The guards practically carried Toto out of the room and into another room a few doors down, laying out a small futon mattress for him to sleep on.

"We'll be in to deal with you tomorrow," The still winded guard said to Toto, looking as though he'd much rather just shoot Toto then and there.

Toto didn't sleep a wink.

* * *

Toto laid there for hours, thinking about what had happened. He couldn't sleep. Couldn't think straight. All he could see was Darla, split in half on that wall. It was traumatizing.

He gave almost no responce when, the next morning, Rhine walked into the small room he was laying down in, looking very, very pissed.

"Toto... what the hell were you thinking?" Rhine said, his voice just below a yell.

Toto stayed silent, which only infuriated Rhine more. Then, his expression seemed to soften a bit. Almost in understanding of Toto.

"Look Toto, I know what your going through right now..."

_That is a lie._

"...but you need to understand, you shouldn't have helped her, she was trying to escape to expose our operation..."

_That is a lie._

That was it. Toto snapped, sitting up and grabbing Rhine by the collar of his overly fancy suit. "Look, Rhine, you keep me, and Darla, and every other kid in this place locked up like freaks. We're alone. Me and Darla are the only people who had ANY company. You stick us in a tiny room decorated to look favorable to the kids, basically leaving us with DVDs. You call us in for questioning whenever it pleases you. We are experiments to you. You can't even get over yourself long enough to see us as people. So ya know what? No. Darla wasn't getting away to expose your operation. Hell, she wanted absolutely nothing to DO with your operation. She just wanted her life back." Toto pushed Rhine back, who looked shocked, the collar of his suit ruffled.

Toto felt just as shocked as Rhine looked. He had never yelled at anyone before. He had never shoved anyone before. He had sure never shouldered anyone so hard in the gut that they were winded before. He'd always been a good kid... he'd done nothing to deserve this. This facility had broken him.

Standing up and regaining his usual poise, Rhine glared at Toto, looking as though he were about to say something. And then he disappeared. No poof, no flash of light, no nothing. Just... Gone.

* * *

**Well, theres chapter three. :D Hope ya liked it! Review!**


	4. Chapter 4

Toto blinked. Rhine was gone. What was this..? Nothing could've done this. Not Toto, no other kids... he just... disappeared. No matter how much Toto disliked the stuck up man, this was unsettling to him. He decided he needed to tell Darren and Luke. They'd know what to do. Or maybe the soldiers, if they didn't.

Toto walked out of the small room, and down through the hallway to Darren and Luke's room. He turned the steel doorknob and opened the door, but found no one inside. They were gone too. He went down through the hallways, checking each room along the way (except his, he couldn't bare to see Darla at this point), and finding no one there.

Finally, already fearing the worst, Toto headed to the room where he had first entered the facility. There was no one here. They were all gone... just like Rhine. What was going on? There had to be some explanation.

Toto walked out of the facility door and into the marine base beyond. He was glad to be out of the facility... but he knew he wouldn't last long out here in this desert without food. There was water in the facility, so he'd have to stay there to survive, but he'd need food from somewhere else. They had a little at the facility, but not enough for an extended period of time.

Toto let out an exasperated sigh, he was really tired of all this. He just wanted to curl up in his bed at home, trying to get some sleep before school the next day... man, he'd never have thought before now that school could seem like such a paradise.

He wandered aimlessly through the desert, making sure the facility's building always stayed within sight, until he saw a few train cars out in the distance. The train had stopped in the middle of the desert, for some reason. Who knows, maybe if he was lucky the driver would let Toto stow away to get back home to Perdido Beach. Not that he'd have anywhere to turn anyways, aside from back to his traitor of a mother.

Still seething over what his mother had done, Toto continued his trek to the train out in the distance. After a few minutes - probably about nine or ten - of walking which felt like hours out in the sun, (Even though it was oddly cool, for the desert. No breeze at all.) Toto finally reached the train. He was near the back of the train, the caboose. It was toppled over, along with six other cars leading up to the engines. He couldnt tell if the front of the train was as messed up as the rest of it. Spilling out from each of the seven toppled - over cars were two humongous steel containers.

Toto turned to the back of the caboose, and began walking to the furthest steel box, planning to make his way from back to front to see if he could open any of them. About halfway past the last car, a large, grey wall which suggested trans-luscence reached way into the sky.

"Whoa.. What on earth is that?" Toto asked himself, insanely curious as to what this strange barrier was. He gingerly reached out a hand to touch the wall, and instantly a searing pain shot through his entire arm, as though he had just grabbed live electrical wires.

"Yow!" Toto cried out, shaking his hand around a bit from the pain before examining it, expecting it to be burned to a crisp. Strangely enough, it showed no signs of trauma.

"What the hell is that thing..." Toto said to himself, bewildered. Then realized he was talking to himself. "Damn.. I really _am_ going insane." Toto said quietly, laughing a bit to himself as he said it.

_That is true._

Sometimes he really wished he could shut that thing off.

* * *

After a solid thirty minutes of checking each spilled out container and trying to pry it open, to no avail, Toto had finally given in on that idea. However, one of the containers had busted open during the crash, and had left tons of small jars of Nutella lying on the ground. He didn't necessarily like the idea of eating a chocolate spread in a jar for every meal, every day, until he was rescued, but hey, it was better than nothing.

Toto took of his light grey tee shirt, and put a couple dozen jars of Nutella into it. He folded it up and slung it over his shoulder, and then began the long walk back to the facility. The walk back took even longer, and felt even more tedious since he was carrying the extra weight of the Nutella jars. The only upside was that he was shirtless, so it seemed a bit cooler, even if he was in the middle of the desert.

The desert was cool yet sunny, there was a gigantic wall the felt like it practically shocked your hand off if you touched it, everyone disappeared, kids had strange powers, Toto was talking to himself, and everyone had disappeared but Toto, as far as he knew.

And the worst part was, that was basically the overall summary of Toto's life now. Four days ago, he could've said, "I'm a smart A student who tries to avoid fighting, and I like to read." Now, it was all insanity. Something was going very, very wrong, and he had no idea what.

After another ten minute walk back to the facility, Toto set the jars of Nutella down on the steel table where he had been 'questioned' just a day before. Only a day, yet it felt like a lifetime. He would be relying on the Nutella a lot in the near future, so he should probably eat all the perishable food first. Who knew how long he'd be here.

He went through the facility rooms (though he avoided the one with Darla in it. He was trying to block that rather grotesque image from his mind entirely.), and collected all the perishable food he could find. By the end of his search, he found a box of Hot Pockets, a few sandwiches probably meant to be lunch for some of the soldiers later today, a few dozen candy bars found in Rhine's office, and a cooler filled with sodas. He could live quite a while off this, and if push came to shove, he always had the Nutella.

In terms of water, all he had was a couple coolers filled with water in the soldier's break room. However, there was also a small irrigation tube which purified the water as it came through, out behind the facility. It was probably installed so that no one would have to drive all the way to town just to get water for the soldiers. A good design, which would now be just as useful for Toto.

Then, Toto went rummaging through some of the soldier's equipment. When he was done, he had several small handguns, a shotgun, a couple automatic machine guns, and more ammo than he hoped he'd ever have to use. After all, protection was important. Not that he knew how to use any of these weapons in any remote way. So, instead, he ended up with several military-style combat knives and a baton. These were simple enough.

* * *

After doing inventory on what he had to use in terms of survival, Toto kicked back in one of the vibrantly colored beanbag chairs in what had formerly been Darren and Luke's room. He quickly popped in the DVD for the third 'Transformers' movie. People had said it wouldn't be as good since it didn't have Megan Fox in it anymore, but he hadn't seen it yet, so he'd just have to see for himself. Besides, he didn't really care. He just needed some way to escape this hell which was now his life.

He turned over towards the elaborately decorated Spider - Man mannequin head sitting beside him, the only thing he had bothered to take from Darla's room. It had caught his eye when he had first entered the facility, he couldn't bear to just leave it there.

Toto sat in silence for a while, watching the movie, before curling up in his beanbag chair and beginning to cry. He was alone. Completely, utterly alone. He had killed Darla... if he hadn't mentioned the change in the sessions, she might still be here. Not in that wall. If he'd pushed the issue of her being unsure about their future here, she might still be here. Not in that wall. He might not be alone. It was his fault...

He sat up slowly, his eyes red and puffy, and turned towards the Spider - Man head once again, a small smile plastered upon his tear - stained cheeks.

"You'll never leave me... right Spidey?"

For a split second, he almost thought he heard an answer.

* * *

**Thank you to all my reviewers! :D It makes my day to read 'em. Please, review, whether ya like it or not!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Note: This chapter is more or less striaght rom "Plague", just told from Toto's perspective. The dialogue, for the most part, is the same.**

* * *

Toto kicked back in the rather large leather reclining chair in what had formerly been Rhine's office, reading 'The Lord of the rings' and scooping globs of Nutella from a nearly - empty jar into his mouth with a silver spoon. This, along with a small glass of water, was 'lunch'. The perishable food had all run out long ago, and the electricity had gone out unexpectedly and without explanation many months ago, so Toto sat in the extra cramped, dank room, trying to read a book with no light while nearly starving and forcing himself to eat more Nutella than he thought possible.

Despite all this, Toto felt happier than he had in a long time. He still had his best friend, Spidey. He gingerly touched the top of the mannequin head, a small smile creeping across his face. He had food and water, so its not like there was a threat of dying. He still had all the books he could read, so as far as Toto was concerned, life was good. Even if he couldn't remember where he was or why.

Toto continued reading his book, going page by page very slowly, not wanting to run out of reading material any time soon. Not that he'd mind, he wouldn't be able to remember hardly anything about the books he'd read by the time he was done with them all.

His power had grown quite a bit. Or at least, he thought it was growth. Now, sometimes, when he read something in a book or said something to himself, the voice would confirm it to be true or false. He hated it sometimes, the spoilers it gave to books he read were unbearable.

This was how he spent his days now, reading old books the facility had provided to him, eating just enough Nutella and drinking just enough water to survive, and talking to Spidey. (Sometimes, he would even talk back! But not often, Spidey was a quiet guy. Not much like in the movies.) Despite how horrible things seemed, Toto felt more than content with how things were. Reading, you didn't have to think about reality. You didn't have to think about starvation, or dehydration. You didn't have to think about how it was most likely that you were the only person still alive on the planet, with no way to get to civilizations to be sure (Or to get food, for that matter). You didn't have to think about the twelve year old girl you'd had to bury in the desert sand behind the facility's building.

He wasn't quite sure how long he'd been here. Maybe months, maybe years. His long black hair had previously hung down to just above his shoulders, but now it reached most of the way down his back. It was longer than the hair of pretty much anyone he'd ever seen in his lifetime. He was also a lot paler than he'd been before, and now wore dark circles and bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. Most people didn't sleep much when haunted by nightmares. Reality was easier. He was far thinner than he had been before, his ribs were all easily visible, even though he didn't really feel hungry. All of his clothes were dirty and smelled terrible, since he wasn't able to expend nearly as much water on washing his clothes as he used to be. He tried to always wear his cleanest outfit, though. Right now he was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans which were relatively clean in comparison to his other pairs, a black and white Hollywood Undead T-Shirt which had formerly belonged to Darren, and black and white Adidas sneakers.

Toto scooped up another glob of Nutella, trying to slate his hunger, when he thought he heard a noise from the facility's main room. Voices. They weren't Spidey's... Spidey was here with him. Always by his side, just like they'd agreed to those many months ago. Thinking back, Toto remembered it as being a joke, but either way he was glad to have a companion. This... was someone else. Surely it was. After all... he and Spidey were the only ones left, right?

Dismissing it as only his imagination, Toto turned back to his book, choosing to ignore the voices instead of investigating them. Despite his efforts to dismiss the voices, they eventually came to him. He could hear the voices, just outside his door, holding some sort of conversation. Then, through the door stepped a tall boy with long golden - brown hair, light green eyes which seemed especially soft in the dim light of the room, and fairly tanned skin. He wore a white polo shirt, only slightly dirtied, and light blue jeans with an almost white fade in the thighs, with black sneakers. He looked vaguely familiar to Toto, but he couldn't quite place it. He looked about fifteen or sixteen... he wasn't from the facility. Probably someone Toto had known in life before the facility, which he had tried desperately to forget.

Toto just sat there, still reading and trying to ignore his unwelcome guest, until he spoke. "Hi," the blonde boy said uncertainly, getting almost no reaction from Toto, "Don't I know you?"

Toto, a bit irritated now, looked up at the 'boy' he was still convinced was just an illusion, and forced a small smile, his emerald - colored green eyes glaring at the boy with quite a bit of ferocity. He was trying to get across the message that he didn't want to be bothered.

"Dude, aren't you Toto?" The boy pressed on.

Toto, now wondering if there was actually a small hope that this boy was real, turned to Spidey, a noticeable quiver in his lip. "Is he real?" Toto asked Spidey, his voice shakey. Spidey didn't respond.

"I'm real.." The boy replied quietly, then yelled out into the hallway, "Dekka! Jack!"

_That is true._

Who was this boy? Who was he calling to? Maybe... just maybe...

"Why is he yelling?" Toto asked Spidey, "He could be a decepticon!"

"I'm not a decepticon.." The boy said, sounding oddly confused.

_That is true._

"It's true," Toto said, looking towards Spidey again. "But... he could be working for the demontors, or for Sauron."

"What are you talking about Toto?" The blonde boy asked, apparently bewildered by Toto's accusations. Then, two more people appeared in the doorway.

The first was a rather tall black girl, just a couple inches shorter then the dirty blonde boy, with dark black hair which looped down from her shoulders in wild curls and wisps, reaching near the mid - section of her back. From the names the boy had called out earlier, Toto assumed this was Dekka. Dekka had dark brown eyes, and showed almost no emotion on her face. She seemed rather detached from the whole situation, cold, maybe even a bit scary to Toto. She wore a light blue tanktop and tight black jeans, with black boots. It didn't exactly match, but he couldn't blame her. After all, he was basically scavenging for any clothes he could find. Style wasn't exactly as important as before, considering there were hardly any clothes to be worn. At least in the facility. Despite that, she was still pretty cute.

The second was a small, frail - looking boy with large circular rimmed glasses, which seemed to magnify his light blue eyes which looked full of curiousity and wonder, as though he were trying to figure out exactly what this place was. Since he was male, Toto assumed he was Jack. He had short, bleach - blonde hair, and extremely pale skin. He looked like he didn't get out much. Not that Toto had any room to talk there. He wore dark blue skinny jeans which clung to his legs, which seemed more like sticks, and an excessively baggy T-Shirt. He looked rather ridiculous, almost comical.

"Whoa.." Dekka said quietly, apparently in shock at the condition of the room.

"He knows what I'm talking about," Toto told Spidey, "He guesses, he's testing. 'What are you talking about Toto?' he says. Right. He knows. He works for the demon."

"I don't work for anyone," The boy said, sounding a bit irritated now.

_That is a lie._

"Liar, liar, pants on fire. Someone sent you." Toto was getting tired of the lies.

"Albert, but-"

"They always try to lie, but it never works, does it?" Toto said, still talking to Spidey, still refusing to directly acknowledge the others in the room. He'd become accustomed to being alone, he couldn't handle others right now.

The boy, Toto thought he remembered his name was Sam, then turned to Dekka and said, "I think our boy here has been alone for a long time."

_That is true._

"He means I'm crazy." Toto finally spoke directly to one of them, Dekka. Then almost felt like he'd betrayed Spidey, his loyal friend, and looked back, giving him an apologetic glance.

"The truth teller, Truth - Teller Toto." Toto said, tears welling up in his eyes now from memories of Darla and her nickname for him. And Luka and Darren. Even Rhine. Never once had he thought he would actually miss the stuck - up man in the suit, but he did.

"Are you test subject 1-01?" Jack asked, speaking up for the first time so far.

The tears kept building up, threatening to burst out. He was fairly certain they were visible to all three of his 'guests'.

"One zero one. Yes. One zero two. What happened to her, do you want to know?" Toto asked, bracing himself to tell the sad story. He really hoped he didn't cry.


End file.
